To troubleshoot an Excel save issue, follow
these steps in the order that they appear until the problem is resolved.

Step 1: Try to save the Excel file to
another location

If you can save the Excel file correctly when you save it to a
local hard disk drive, to a network drive, or to a floppy drive, the following
are possible causes for the issues that you are experiencing:

Causes

Third-party add-in

If the Excel file is not saved when you run Excel in Windows Safe Mode, the issue may be caused by a third-party add-in or by a file that is in one of the Excel startup locations. By default, these files are loaded when you start Excel.

Sometimes, third-party software vendors install custom
add-ins to work with Excel. Some of these add-ins are designed to work with
existing Excel features, and some are intended to permit a seamless transition
when you are using a third-party product. Typically, these third-party add-ins
do not interfere with typical Excel functionality. However, there are some
exceptions to this, where an Excel save conflict has occurred because of an
add-in.

To test for and to rule out the chance that a third-party
Excel add-in or file is causing an Excel save issue, start Excel in Safe Mode.
To do so, follow these steps:

Quit Excel.

Click Start, and then point to
Programs.

Hold down CTRL while you start Excel, until you receive a
message that is similar to the following:

Excel has
detected that you are holding down the CTRL key. Do you want to start Excel in
safe mode?

Click Yes.

Try to save a new Excel file, and then resave the same
Excel file again.

If the file saves correctly, a custom add-in or a file that is
located in an Excel startup location was most likely the cause. You must locate
and remove the add-in or the file to rule out the problem. After you determine
the add-in or the file that caused the problem, contact the vendor that
designed it. The vendor may have additional information about this issue and an
update that does not cause the issue.

For more information about Microsoft Excel Safe Mode, press F1 in Excel to get to the Help menu, type safe mode in the Search box, and then click Search to view the topic.

For more information about how to determine the folders that Excel uses during startup and additional options to disable this functionality, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Insufficient drive space

When you save to any drive, whether to a floppy disk drive, to a local hard disk drive, or to a network drive, you must make sure that the drive has sufficient free space to permit the file to save. If the destination drive does not have sufficient space available, Excel cannot complete the save operation, and you receive the following error message:

Disk is Full.

For more information about this error
message, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Network connection lost

If you are working with an Excel file, and the connection to the
drive that the file resides on is lost, you may receive an error message when
you try to save the file.

This issue occurs because when you open an
Excel file from a network location, some parts of the file may not be
downloaded to the local computer at the time that you open the file. The Pivot
Table Caches, the ActiveX objects, and the Microsoft Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA) section of the file are not downloaded to the local computer
until they are accessed in the local Excel session.

Therefore, if
network connectivity is lost, Excel cannot access the parts of the file that
have not been downloaded to the local computer and cannot save the
file.

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Antivirus software conflict

When antivirus software is installed or is running, you may receive an error message when you try to save an existing Excel file. You do not receive an error message if you try to save a new Excel file. You may receive an error message because some antivirus programs quickly scan any new files that appear on a computer. This scan can sometimes disrupt the Excel save process. This interruption may stop Excel from saving the file correctly.

File sharing conflict

If you are working with a shared Excel file at the same time as
another user, you may receive an error message if you and the second user try
to save the Excel file at the same time. You receive an error message because
Excel cannot save the file while another instance of Excel is saving the same
file.

For more information about this error message, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Additional information

Save your Excel file before you start to troubleshoot the issue

You almost always want to save your Excel file with your latest
changes before you continue to troubleshoot why the actual Excel save issue has
occurred. Depending on the cause of the Excel save issue, you may not be able
to recover the current file "as is". However, the following methods have
typically been successful. The following suggestions are listed in order of
format retention when you are trying to retain the file in as close to the
original format as possible.

Note The following methods may not save the file with all the latest
changes, formatting, and feature sets that are specific to the version of Excel
that you are using. The following methods are intended to permit you to obtain
a usable, saved version of the file. All the following methods require that you
save the file to your local hard disk drive, and that you use a unique file
name when you do so.

Method 1: Save
the Excel file with a new file name

On the File menu, click Save
As.

Save the Excel file with a new, unique file
name.

Method 2: Move the original worksheets to a new workbook

Add a filler worksheet to your workbook by pressing Shift + F11.

This sheet is required as a filler sheet
because there has to be at least one remaining sheet in a workbook after you
move all relevant data sheets.

Group all the worksheets (except the filler) by clicking on the the first sheet, holding down the shift key, and clicking on the last sheet.

Right click on the grouped sheets and select Move or copy.

In the To Book list, click (New
Book).

Click OK.

Note These steps should move the active(grouped) worksheets to a new workbook.

If you have VBA macros in your
workbook, copy the modules from the old workbook to the new workbook.

Method 3: Save the file as a different Excel file type

On the File menu, click Save
As.

In the Save as Type list, select a file format other than the current file format. If you are using Microsoft Excel 2007 or later, save the file as .xlsx or .xlsm rather than an .xls.

Method 4: Save the file in HTML format

Process for
saving
an Excel file

When Excel saves a file, it does so according to the following
procedure:

Excel creates a randomly named temporary file (for example,
Cedd4100 with no file name extension) in the destination folder that you
specified in the Save As dialog box. The whole workbook is
written to the temporary file.

If changes are being saved to an existing file, Excel
deletes the original file.

Excel renames the temporary file. Excel gives the temporary
file the file name that you specified (such as Book1.xls) in the Save
As dialog box.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Note Other processes that occur on your computer may cause a
disruption in the Excel save process. These issues may occur if the Excel
temporary file is accessed before the Excel save process is complete (such as
when the local antivirus program locks the temporary file to scan before it can
be renamed).

Therefore, you must keep track of any new software
installs or updates that are performed before you experience any Excel save
issues. This information will be helpful if this article does not resolve your
issue and you have to call Microsoft Product Support Services. For additional
information, visit the following Microsoft Web site: